Halston Replaces Dunn in White Chocolate

Julie Halston has replaced Nora Dunn in William Hamilton's White Chocolate off-Broadway. The show will now begin performances at the Century Center for the Performing Arts on September 26 and open there on October 6.

"Nora Dunn is one of our most brilliant actress/comediennes," director David Schweizer said in a statement. "Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, I came to feel that she was not suited to the role of Vivian in White Chocolate. Perhaps a comparable situation would be the great British actor, Henry Goodman, who did not gel with the role of Max Bialystock in The Producers. I deeply regret any discomfort she may have felt in this situation and hope to work with her again someday."

Halston has previously appeared on Broadway in Twentieth Century, Gypsy, The Women and The Man Who Came to Dinner. Her other theatrical credits include Saved or Destroyed, The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told, The Butter and Egg Man, her solo show Julie Halston's Lifetime of Comedy and the Encores! mounting of The Boys from Syracuse.

White Chocolate is a satire that takes a humorous look into the lives of two society patrons one Jewish, the other a blue-blood who are shocked one morning to find that their skin color has changed overnight. Through the course of the day, Brandon Beale struggles to seal the deal on his new position as Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art while his daughter returns home to announce her surprise engagement to an Asian man they've never met.

In addition to Halston, the comedy features Reg E. Cathey, Erik Laray Harvey, Paul H. Juhn, Samantha Soule and Lynn Whitfield